1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to mobile cattle feeders and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, it relates to an improved cattle feeder that meters feed cubes for distribution in piles of predetermined weight and spacing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art includes various types of animal feeders that dispense feed from a moving bin. U.S. Pat. No. 219,911 provides an early disclosure of a bin for containing bulk material for dissemination by means of an integral conveyor assembly leading outboard from the bin. U.S. Pat. No. 2,221,266 describes a material spreader that includes a conveyor belt in the base of the storage body whereupon the belt feeds material to a lateral conveyor screw to spread the fungible material laterally across the path of the spreader. U.S. Pat. No. 2,946,597 is of interest as it describes a device for dispensing fertilizer by means of an endless conveyor. The device actually has a series of storage bins with separate release gates at the bottom rear of each bin. This enables mixing of two or more different materials during the spreading process as actual spreading of the material is carried out by lateral broadcast. Many other spreading and dispensing types of equipment have been utilized in the past but the inventor is not aware of any feed dispensing device that is capable of batch output of cube feed in predetermined weight allotments and distribution spacing.